This is based on Zuko Alone, but entirely from Li's POV.
Disclaimer – I posted this to the producers of Avatar: the Last Airbender and they thought it was so good that made it into an actual episode. Oh, and by the way, the word gullible has been taken out the dictionary.
Sometimes, when I fall asleep beneath the starry skies, my brother, Shen-Shu swims into my mind and I recall all the good times we had when we were together, before he was sent to war. One night I dreamt about the time when he was trying to teach me how to use his war hammers on the hilltop. I was only six at the time so he had to hold my hands for me to be able to even lift them up let alone swing them. But I was so sure that I could wield them by themselves. I swung them wildly to try and throw Shen-Shu off but gathered too much momentum and toppled over the hill, my brother still attached to me. We rolled down, bouncing along the pot-holes, kicking up sand as we went, laughing all the way until we fell in a heap at the bottom, still in hysterics. He recovered quicker than me and started tickling me all over. I squirmed and giggled and kicked him off and we spent the rest of the day playing tag. My cheeks felt like they had cramp afterward because we I'd been smiling so much. The war hammers lay forgotten a few feet away.
But now, another face has been engraved in my mind; Zuko. I've tried to expel him from memory, to forget him completely but I can't. His forlorn eyes as Mum and I turned and left him behind burn in my mind like they've been etched there with a red-hot brand. He lied to me. He was a firebender. I thought that I could trust him but you can't trust firebenders.
If it wasn't for firebenders, there wouldn't be this damned war. And if there wasn't a war, Shen-Shu wouldn't have to fight. And if he didn't have to fight, he wouldn't have died.
Dad came back a few weeks ago confirming that Shen-Shu and his battalion had been killed. When he first appeared on the horizon as a tiny pinprick, Mum and I ran to greet him, expecting that he'd have my brother with him. But as we neared, the space where Shen-Shu should have been walking by Dad was empty. I thought it was a trick of the light. It couldn't be true. Shen-Shu would be back. He had promised the day he left.
Dad trudged up to us looking like a defeated man. He didn't look like my dad anymore. His eyes were lifeless and his head drooped in despair. Before, he always had a spring in his step, but now, he dragged one foot behind each other, as if every step was a mile. He didn't look up at us when we swallowed him in a family hug. He just shrugged past and carried on walking as if we weren't there. I didn't want to believe that Shen-Shu wasn't coming back. Mum didn't either. Even though both of us in our hearts knew there was no hope that my brother was alive.
A few words escaped Dad's lips, "Shen-Shu isn't coming back. He's dead." He spoke them as quiet as a breeze in the early spring, but to me, it felt like a typhoon, howling its battle cry as it destroyed all in its path. I was stunned for a moment but then, it hit me like the war hammer that Shen-Shu had attempted to teach me how to use. Dad's words echoed in my head;
Dead; he's not here.
Dead; he's not coming back.
Dead; he's gone… forever.
I heard Mum's reaction before I saw it, an agonizing wail that reverberated though the bleak lands. She collapsed onto the ground, shrieking to the God's to give her son back. Dad said nothing but knelt on the ground too and held her, a solemn, empty look on his face. Rivers of tears fell from Mum's face as she continued to sob into Dad's shoulder. Dad's face on the other hand was dry. Dry like a desert that's cracked and beaten by the unforgiving sun.
I ran. I ran until I could run no more. I ran until my legs crumpled beneath me and lay on the dusty ground. I didn't want to believe Shen-Shu had died. I couldn't. Life suddenly felt so pointless. I cried and cried, cried until I could cry no more, until a puddle of grief soaked the ground beneath me. The sun soon set, leaving me in darkness as I wailed out Shen-Shu's name to the heavens.
This was meant to be a one-shot but once it reached over 8000 words, I thought I should post it in chapters. Have no fear though, it is complete and the Stranger makes an appearance in the next chapter.
BTW, I like reviews :D